‘Diversity Is One of the Riches of Catholicism. . . . ‘--Father Matthew Fox : Oakland Priest May Be Next in Line for Vatican Censure

Dominican Father Matthew Fox of Oakland hasn’t heard from Rome since June, but he may well be the next U.S. priest to be disciplined by Cardinal Joseph A. Ratzinger and the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The “watchdog” agency of Roman Catholic orthodoxy began reviewing three of Fox’s books after a group of conservatives in Seattle sent excerpts to Rome in 1983. Fox had held a workshop on his controversial “creation-centered spirituality” in the Archdiocese of Seattle. The archdiocese is administered by liberal prelate Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen, who was recently disciplined by the Vatican.

Those who attacked Fox’s teachings were “the same well-organized group of people who complained about Hunthausen,” Fox, 45, said in a recent interview. “They sent a thick file of documents to Cardinal Ratzinger. They took statements from my books out of context and put them opposite statements by (conservative) bishops and theologians.”

Case Still Pending

Fox’s religious superior said that, so far, no news from Rome is good news. But, although a panel of three Dominican theologians who investigated Fox’s writings found nothing heretical, Ratzinger reportedly was not convinced, and the case is still pending.

“You might say the ball is in Ratzinger’s court,” Fox said wryly.

Fox said Vatican concern about his work centered on his views of feminism, homosexuality, premarital sex, “sensuality,” the doctrine of “original sin” and charges that he advocated pantheism, the belief that “everything is God and God is everything.”

Fox denied that his teachings are heretical, or that courses taught in his Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College in Oakland are unorthodox.

‘Blowing the Whistle’

Fox said those responsible for “blowing the whistle” on both Hunthausen and himself were supporters of the conservative independent Catholic weekly, The Wanderer, and the lay group, Catholics United for the Faith.

(Hunthausen revealed last September that Vatican authorities, acting under Ratzinger, had shifted his pastoral authority in five sensitive areas to an auxiliary bishop. The Vatican said Hunthausen had been lax in handling marriage annulments, liturgy, sterilizations at Catholic hospitals, ministry to homosexuals and clergy education.)

The Wanderer, published in St. Paul, Minn., is edited by its sole owner, Al J. Matt Jr., and has a circulation of about 40,000. News sources credited the newspaper with generating 10,000 postcards during a campaign earlier this year in support of Vatican action against Father Charles Curran. The Washington priest was stripped in August of his right to teach theology at Catholic University because Ratzinger considered his views on sexual ethics too liberal.

Frank Morriss, a Wanderer contributing editor in Denver, said, “We have readers everywhere,” adding that some could have complained to Vatican authorities about Fox. But Morriss added that he knew of no organized effort by the publication against Fox’s work.

Won’t Discuss Details

“I personally object to much of Father Fox’s observations and conclusions,” Morriss said by telephone this week, “but I am not prepared to discuss the details.”

Erven Park, whose husband edits “Roman Catholic Laity for Truth, a Wanderer Forum Affiliate” in Kelso, Wash., agreed:

“We’re very much against his (Fox’s) teachings and those he’s hired, but we have never organized any opposition or communicated (our views against Fox) to the Vatican.”

Catholics United for the Faith, based in New Rochelle, N.Y., has a membership of about 15,000. Its publication, “Lay Witness,” presents traditionalist support for the magisterium (official teaching authority of the church hierarchy).

Donald McClane, president of Catholics United, said members of his organization may have independently complained to Rome about Fox, but “Catholics United didn’t do it as any direct activity. It was not an organized move.” McClane said during a telephone interview that some of Fox’s teachings “appear to be out of line with Catholic doctrine . . . (and) a denial of Christian religion.”

‘Crazy Right-Wingers’

In the interview with The Times, Fox said angrily: “Part of the scandal is that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith would listen to these people. They are not theologians; they are not conservatives. They are crazy right-wingers. . . . They’re rabid. They spit on you and scream at you.”

Fox said Ratzinger had asked the head of the Rome-based Dominican order to examine Fox’s writings. He, in turn, asked Father John Gerlach, then-vicar provincial of the Dominican’s Chicago office, to set up an evaluation team.

The panel of three American Dominican theologians--whose identities have not been made public--spent six months reviewing three of Fox’s 10 published books: “On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear: Spirituality American Style” (1972); “Whee! We, Wee All the Way Home: A Guide to a Sensual, Prophetic Spirituality” (1976), and “Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality” (1983).

A written report by the panel to Ratzinger--copies were sent to Fox and the head of the Dominican Order--”found that what I’m doing is orthodox,” Fox said.

Suggest Evaluation’

“But they suggested I submit future (book) manuscripts for evaluation” before they are published, added Fox, who declined to quote from the evaluation directly.

The Dominican theologians may have been satisfied, but Ratzinger was not.

“After quite some time,” Fox said, “Ratzinger responded (to the panel report), saying, in effect, he didn’t buy it and wanted some more attention to my writings.”

Fox said his current provincial in Chicago, Father Don Goergon, then wrote Ratzinger a six-page letter last June “supporting me.”

Since that time, there have been no further communications between his superiors and the Vatican, Fox said this month.

Spirituality Conference

He was interviewed in Beverly Hills where he was conducting a weekend conference on spirituality.

Fox attracts large followings wherever he speaks.

What he is doing in his books, Holy Names College graduate program and workshops across the country is to challenge the central Catholic doctrine of “original sin,” feminize the concept of God and appeal to non-Christian as well as traditional--but sometimes obscure or forgotten--Catholic notions of mysticism.

His faculty at the Holy Names institute, which grants about 50 master’s degrees in spirituality each year, includes a self-described witch named Starhawk. She teaches classes on ritual-making and sexuality, and on spirituality in “native religions.”

Fox defends Starhawk but said she plays a “minor role” on his faculty.

Native American religion, he said, as well as “wicca”--which he defines as the tradition that “reverences the Earth and the ‘mother goddess’ present in everybody”--form an essential bridge to authentic spirituality.

‘Very Loaded Word’

“Witch is a very loaded word in our culture,” he said, adding that Starhawk does not teach witchcraft or believe in Satan. His faculty also includes a Bible scholar, a physicist, a masseuse, a gestalt therapist and an African dance teacher.

“Diversity is one of the riches of Catholicism, but one wonders if it is being sacrificed for the sake of conformity and control,” Fox said.

“I think it’s a scandal,” he continued, “that grown men in the 1980s are using their God-given imaginations to recreate the Inquisition when there is so much pain and suffering in the world, in so much abuse of Mother Earth and children and artists.”

Specific objections to his teachings, Fox said, have included charges that he does not believe in “original sin,” does not distinguish between pantheism and panentheism, does not condemn homosexuality, and sprinkles words such as “sensuality” and “erotic justice” throughout his writings and lectures.

‘Original Blessing’

“We need to go back to ‘original blessing’--not ‘original sin,’ ” Fox explained, adding that “98% of biblical scholars agree with me . . . (and) don’t believe in original sin.” Fox believes that an overemphasis on “fall-redemption theology” has fostered “political and psychological interests to keep people in line,” allowing the subjugation of women, destruction of the environment and oppression of the weak.

“Religion could be playing such a fundamental role in healing and announcing good news instead of being preoccupied with control and anthropomorphic agendas,” the soft-spoken priest said with a hint of puckishness.

Agreeing that pantheism, the belief that “everything is God and God is everything,” is heretical, Fox said that he believes in panentheism , the view that “everything is in God and God is in everything. Not only is that altogether orthodox; it’s what John’s Gospel is all about.”

Fox acknowledged that he frequently refers to God as “she,” and affirms sexual lovemaking. He noted that the biblical book, Song of Songs (Solomon), speaks of “divine encounter in the mysticism of sexuality . . . and doesn’t always ask for a marriage license.”

Need for Celebration

“Men need to celebrate their masculinity and women their femininity with each other,” Fox said. At the same time, he is critical of the “current preoccupation with sex as primarily a genital experience.”

Fox said he favors optional celibacy for Catholic priests and the ordination of women--both banned by the Roman Catholic Church.

Regarding homosexuality, Fox conceded that he had celebrated a Mass in Chicago for members of Dignity, a group of Catholic homosexuals, but said his participation was approved by the late Cardinal John P. Cody of Chicago. One of the reasons given by the Vatican for censuring Archbishop Hunthausen was that he permitted a Mass at the Seattle cathedral for a Dignity convention three years ago.

‘Homophobia in Rome’

“I think there’s a lot of homophobia in Rome,” commented Fox. “The homosexual (is seen) as a scapegoat . . . which is a projection by people who don’t have a healthy concept of sexuality.”

Fox holds masters’ degrees in philosophy and theology from the Aquinas Institute, a Dominican college and seminary now located in St. Louis, and a doctorate in spirituality from the Institute Catholique de Paris. He founded the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality in Chicago nine years ago and moved it to Oakland in 1983.

According to an administrator at the institute, half of the students have been from Catholic religious communities; the rest are predominantly white, middle-class “religious seekers” of all faiths, ranging from housewives to Episcopal clergy.

Fox’s workshop this month in Beverly Hills was jointly sponsored by the community’s Episcopal and Presbyterian churches.